Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event | Paris 2024 | ITF (2024)

The Paralympic Games grew from the work of the German born neurosurgeon, Dr. Ludwig Guttman, who came to England in 1939. Guttman's enduring legacy was to introduce competitive sport as an integral part of the rehabilitation of soldiers with spinal cord injuries sustained in World War II.

On 29 July 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, Dr. Guttmann organised the first competition for wheelchair athletes which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games after the site of his rehabilitation venture. They involved 16 injured servicemen and women who took part in Archery. In 1952, Dutch ex-servicemen joined the Movement and the International Stoke Mandeville Games were founded.

An attempt to connect the Olympic and Paralympic Games was not made again until 1960, when the International Stoke Mandeville Games were held in Rome just a few weeks after the Rome Olympic Games. These Games were organised for wheelchair athletes only, featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then they have taken place every four years.

Wheelchair tennis first featured at the Games as a demonstration sportat Seoul 1988 when four men and four women competed, paving the way for its full inclusion at the next Games in Barcelona when Randy Snow and Monique van den Bosch took the gold medals in singles. A quad division was added for the first time at the Paralympics at Athens 2004.

Since Seoul 1988, the ParalympicGames have also taken part in the same cities and venues as the Olympic Games due to an agreement between the IPC and IOC.

The Paralympic Games have grown exponentially since their inception and in London 2012 there were a total of 503 medal events across 11 days.More than4,200 athletes from over 140 countries around the world competed with in excess of2.5 million tickets sold to witness the spectacle

The inclusion of wheelchair tennis as a full medal sport in 1992 put it firmly into the public eye as an entertaining and physically demanding activity for players from all over the world. Fifteen nations were represented in the men's draw of 32 players with 15 of the world's Top 20 men competing.

The women's draw comprised 16 players from nine nations including the top six women in the world. The event took place from 4-12 September at the Vall D'Hebron site in Barcelona, which had witnessed the thrill and excitement of the Olympic Tennis Event just two weeks before.

Snow takes first gold

It was to be the semifinal match between Randy Snow and Abde Naili which set the tournament alight and was heralded as "one of the best wheelchair tennis matches of all time". In front of a capacity crowd of 6,000, Naili and Snow played inspirational tennis in a constant battle for that all-important place in the final.

The crowd often showed their appreciation for the quality of play by applauding too early, as the players displayed tremendous agility around the court to retrieve balls on the second bounce and sustain the rally. But it was Snow who eventually took the match and the place in the final after two and a half hours of constant tension, 67 64 63.

The other semifinal proved to be a different story. Twenty-four year old Kai Schrameyer of Germany, who had only been playing wheelchair tennis for two years, defeated the second seed, Laurent Giammartini of France in straight sets, 62 62. It was the first time Schrameyer had ever defeated Giammartini.

The final created a first in wheelchair tennis history, being shown live on television. Schrameyer took the first set 6-2 in less than half an hour and appeared to be in control. But Snow proved his mental toughness once again by battling back to win the second set 6-4. Finally it was to be Snow who triumphed taking the third set 6-4, claiming the first ever Paralympic tennis gold medal 26 64 64.

Dutch women prove best

No one would be surprised to see an all-Dutch final in the women's draw. Monique van den Bosch and Chantal Vandierendonck were the world No. 1 and 2 at the time and between them had taken every title in the run up to the Paralympics. But the route to the final was not perhaps as smooth as they might have wished.

Van den Bosch had to survive two match points in the third set but finally went on to defeat Olson 63 46 76. Vandierendonck didn't drop a set en route to the final but came closest in the quarterfinal against Oristelle Marx of France whom she finally defeated 61 75.

However, van den Bosch proved too strong in the gold medal match. In typical fashion, Vandierendonck battled to the end but van den Bosch's consistency and placement substantiated her world No. 1 ranking to win 63 64 and take the gold.

Doubles follows form guide

The final between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the men’s event lasted three hours and epitomised the variety and excitement of wheelchair tennis doubles. Caillier and Giammartini of France tried everything to counteract the American onslaught of Parks and Snow, eventually managing to take the second set tie-break 9-7 to level the match.

Caillier in particular was under tremendous pressure with the American pair hitting to his side of the court at every opportunity. Eventually their tactics paid off with Snow and Parks taking home gold for the USA 64 67(7) 63.

The women's draw was a little more predictable. With only six doubles teams, the Dutch women from the singles final paired up and were always expected to dominate and true to form they reached the final without even dropping a set. They went on to take gold from the US pair of Nancy Olson and Lynn Seidemann 62 63.

All the participants agreed on one thing: at the time, this was the best wheelchair tennis event ever held. The organisation was perfect; full crews of umpires, linesmen and ball boys for every match, computer analyses of every match, packed stadiums of enthusiastic spectators and a level of play that had never been seen before in international competition.

"When I was standing on the podium, I felt like a window had opened to my soul and for a moment, every positive emotion I had ever felt flowed through it… I cried." ~Randy Snow after winning gold in Barcelona 1992.

After the tremendous success of the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, the expectations oforganisers and competitors were riding high for Atlanta 1996. Seventy-two wheelchair tennis players from 24 countries battled for the ultimate sporting accolade: a Paralympic gold medal.

A four-hour ceremony opened proceedings with the Paralympic mascot, a bald eagle named Blaze, gracefully swooping into the Olympic Stadium. The atmosphere was electric as Christopher Reeves, former cinema Superman and the master of ceremonies stressed how each competitor represented the "triumph of the human spirit". Carly Simon, Liza Minnelli and Aretha Franklin contributed songs to add the final touch.

Wheelchair tennis once again followed in the footsteps of the Olympic Games which had been played at the purpose-built Olympic Tennis Centre at Stone Mountain Park.

Home crowd disappointed in Final

The men's quarterfinal between Laurent Giammartini and Jim Black of USA unfolded into a tortuous battle of wills. Competing in temperatures over 34 degrees centigrade, Giammartini took the first set fairly easily, but a string of errors allowed Black to capture the second in just 27 minutes.

The third set was a baseline slog, with plenty of tense rallies to thrill the crowds. At five games all, Giammartini took the next game and then after two gruelling 25 stroke rallies, he finally came through 62 16 75.

This epic contest took its toll on Giammartini and sapped by heat exhaustion, the Frenchman crashed 61 61 to another home favourite, Stephen Welch, in the semifinal. Later that day he withdrew in the third set of a doubles match and was rushed to hospital.

In the other half of the draw, theNo. 2seed, David Hall, had yet to drop a set but his semifinal encounter with Dutchman Ricky Molier was about to change everything. Molier, whose ranking had leapt from No. 35 toNo. 5in just one year, unleashed serves of over 100 mph and demonstrated an array of powerful shots to claim the match over the 1995 World Champion 67 75 75.

Welch had seemingly the least arduous run through to the final. Dropping no more than three games in any set, his confidence was riding high as he approached the gold medal match. The first set was tense and could have gone either way, but Molier's raw strength began to give him the edge and he managed to secure the first set in a tiebreak. It seemed that this was just the boost in confidence he needed and he capitalised on his advantage over Welch. After a long fought battle, the Dutchman eventually defeated the crowd's favourite 76 62.

Dutch women continue dominance

The women's final was an once again an all-Dutch affair, this time between Maaike Smit and Monique Kalkman (nee van den Bosch) who had defeated Chantal Vandierendonck 63 62 in a repeat of the final at Barcelona 1992the previous round. It turned into a match to remember, with both competitors digging deep to produce their best tennis.

Kalkman captured the first set to love in just 24 minutes but Smit came back to take a 4-1 lead in the second. Not to be outdone, Kalkman fought back to lead 5-4 and had two match points only to miss both. In the subsequent tiebreak, Kalkman held a third match point but Smit answered with a glorious winner down the line and then went on to square the match 9-7 in the breaker.

In a thrilling third set which included some breathtaking rallies and a nail-biting tiebreak, Smit finally out-fought Kalkman to take the match 06 76 76 and claim the Paralympic gold medal.

USA finally claims home gold

In the men's doubles final, Welch and Chip Parmelly of the USA faced Australians, Mick Connell and David Hall. After two hours of gripping tennis, the score was tied at one set all, six-all in the third, and two-all in the tiebreak when the heavens opened.

Thunder and lightening engulfed Stone Mountain Park and it was hard to know whether it was the players or the enthralled spectators who were more perturbed at having to leave the court. The completion of the third set tiebreak was postponed until the next day when Welch and Parmelly squeezed through in just over five minutes to take the match 62 36 76.

Once again the Dutch women's team of Kalkman and Vandierendonck found little resistance as they cruised through the field to their second Paralympic final. Dominating once again, Kalkman and Vandierendonck defended their gold medals with a defeat of the USA's Nancy Olson and Hope Lewellen for the loss of just one game.

"Each Paralympic Games has been a different journey with different expectations. Barcelona was a learning curve for me; even the experience of being with so many athletes in one place was incredible. But more than anything, the Paralympics are about representing your country.The top players in the world are chasing that gold medal." ~David Hall, Australia, three-time Paralympian

Attracting record crowds, the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games have been widely acclaimed as the best ever. A unique ticketing system allowing spectators to visit an unlimited number of sports during any chosen day proved to be one of the keys to Sydney's success. An incredible 1.4 million tickets were sold, doubling the 700,000 visitors to Atlanta and ensuring Sydney was the most-watched Paralympic Games ever.

For wheelchair tennis being played at the NSW Tennis Centre, this meant regular capacity crowds of 10,000 in centre court, even more than had watched the Olympic Games tennis event. Several thousand more spectators wandered through the park each day to see games on outside courts, most of them experiencing wheelchair tennis for the first time.

Local hero goes all the way

Australian David Hall had arguably the toughest route to the final of anyone. After overcoming the young talented Andreas Westman of Sweden in the first round he met Barcelona's double gold medallist, Randy Snow.

A thrilling match ensued with both players producing incredible rallies. After a tremendous battle that saw the 41-year-old Snow match Hall almost shot for shot, the fitness of the younger man prevailed and the home crowd saw Hall progress to the quarterfinal 64 75.

Hall next vanquished world No. 5 Robin Ammerlaan of the Netherlands before a semifinal victory against Germany's Kai Schrameyer 62 63 ensured Hall a place in the final.

The men's gold medal match proved to be a classic. There was little to separate the two players – Atlanta silver medallist Stephen Welch playing the villain in front of a partisan crowd. Welch won a back and forth opener in a tie-break 7-3 but at one set down, with the encouragement of 10,000 fans ringing in his ears, Hall remained calm and focussed. Capitalising on the rare chances that came his way, victory was finally secured 67(3) 64 62.

"It's hard to believe," Hall said after proudly parading his medal to the crowd, his shoulders draped in the Australian flag that a fan had handed to him moments before. "For me it was a mental battle - a few points here and there and he (Welch) could have been the winner."

Dutch production line rolls on

Probably the biggest upset on the women’s side came in the quarterfinal between two-time world champion Daniela di Toro of Australia andNo. 5seed Sharon Walraven. Walraven, who had never defeated di Toro in five previous meetings, played a smart tactical game, lobbing an ever-advancing di Toro who persisted to approach the net at every opportunity. The tactics paid off and the Australian's hopes of a medal went out in the quarters, 67(6) 62 75.

In the other half of the draw, the world No.1 was having a much easier time of it. Dropping only six games in three matches en route to the final, Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands appeared undeterred by the opposition or the occasion.

Walraven had taken a much more tortuous route to the final and her three long three-set matches were starting to take its toll. Vergeer dominated a nervous Walraven from the start, wrapping up the first set within 22 minutes. A vicious cross court forehand brought Vergeer match point which she snatched with an equally emphatic forehand down the line to win the match 60 64 to add her first Paralympic gold singles medal to an ever increasing title haul.

Atlanta gold medallist Maaike Smit earned bronze after beating Great Britain's Kimberly Dell to give the Dutch their second consecutive clean sweep in the Paralympic women's event.

Hall edged out going for Paralympic double

In the men's doubles final, the Australian pair of David Hall and David Johnson lost 75 16 63 to Dutch partnership Robin Ammerlaan and Ricky Molier in an epic contest that fused skill and courage, producing just over two hours of nailbiting tennis.

Once again the Dutch women dominated the doubles. The team of Maaike Smit and Esther Vergeer defeated the Australian pair of Daniela di Toro and Branka Pupovac 76(6) 6-2 in the final.

But if double gold was a dream for Vergeer, the battle for the bronze was a dream come true for the German pair of Petra Sax-Scharl and Christine Otterbach. Having defeated Thailand and Canada in three close sets, they lost to the strong Australian team in the semifinal and were set to play Japan in the bronze medal match.

Never expecting to be medal contenders at all, Petra Sax-Scharl was even more thrilled when her husband and son flew out from Germany as a surprise especially for the game. The German pair finally came through victorious after nearly three hours 57 64 64 to take the bronze medal.

"There were a few tears - I expected it to be very emotional. I've been thinking about this ever since Sydney was awarded the Olympics." ~David Hall after winning goldat Sydney 2000

After the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Tennis Event ended with 10,000 enthusiastic fans cheering home favourite David Hall to victory, four years later the Athens 2004 event opened with more impressive crowds as 5,000 spectators for the morning session on the first day and 4,000 spectators for the evening session cheered the top seeds in the men’s draw safely through to the second round.

Ammerlaan claims men’s gold

Eric Stuurman of the Netherlands obviously felt comfortable in his first match on the Paralympic Centre Court in Athens. The President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge and ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti watched from the VIP stand as the No. 11 seed overwhelmed Hidekazu Nakano of Japan 63 61 in 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, the youngest player in the draw, Sweden’s Stefan Olsson, took care of Sri Lanka’s Manatunga Kumarasiri. The 17-year-old won the match in straight sets 60 60, much to the delight of the Sports Minister for Sweden Mona Salin who also watched from the stands.

The evening session on the first day saw Centre Court come alive as local favourite Konstantinos Vazouras took centre stage against Anthony Bonaccurso of Australia. The crowd chanted and cheered throughout the match, creating one of the most animated atmospheres in Paralympic tennis history, but Bonaccurso, ranked some 338 places above Vazouras, was too strong for the Greek and went on to win 61 60.

As the men’s event progressed, Britain’s Jayant Mistry struggled through his first two matches against the Slovak Republic’s Jozef Felix and Austria’s Herbert Baumgartner in three sets before finally losing out to Japan’s Satoshi Saida in the round of 16, while Hungary’s Laszlo Farkas ended the Paralympic career of Germany’s Kai Schrameyer in the second round, beating the 12th seed and Sydney bronze medallist 57 76 63.

As the quest for medals intensified Dutch top seed Robin Ammerlaan and 2000 champion Hall lost their first set of the Games in the quarterfinals on the fifth day of competition, with world No. 1 Ammerlaan edging past Saida 64 36 76(3) to book a semifinal against Atlanta and Sydney silver medallist Stephen Welch. The Dutchman had another tough task, but eventually defeated the American 75 16 64.

Two future world No. 1 players figured in the bottom half of the draw, but both were outdone by the defending Gold medallist as Hall first defeated Japanese youngster Shingo Kunieda 62 06 64 and then eased past Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz 61 61 to reach his second successive Paralympic final.

In comparison to his previous two matches, Ammerlaan’s victory in the final was relatively straight forward, as he came from 2-0 down to take the next six games and the opening set, and with Hall unable to produce his semifinal form the Dutchman clinched the gold medal 62 61 in 48 minutes.

Meanwhile, Jeremiasz and Welch put on a fine display of wheelchair tennis in the bronze medal match, the Frenchman eventually coming through to claim his first Paralympic medal 62 64 in front of his entire family.

History was made in Athens as Kunieda and Saida became the first Japanese pairing to win a Paralympic medal when they took gold in the men’s doubles, outclassing Jeremiasz and Lahcen Majdi, their opponents in the final, to take the match 61 62.

Meanwhile, Hall and Bonaccurso recovered from their semifinal loss against Kunieda and Saida to win a titanic struggle for the bronze medal against Dutch duo Ammerlaan and Eric Stuurman 64 67(5) 64, with Hall collecting his third Paralympic doubles medal with three different partners.

Vergeer retains title to make history

The women’s singles got underway with a big shock in the first round as Korea’s Young-Suk Hong upset world No. 6 Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands. Such is the depth of women’s wheelchair tennis in the Netherlands that Griffioen, ranked in the world’s top six, had come in as late replacement for her compatriot Sharon Walraven, but Hong capitalised on her impressive serve and appeared to mentally the strongest player in the final set to steal a 64 46 76(2) victory.

The usual Dutch dominance faltered again in the round of 16 as Great Britain’s Kay Forshaw produced the performance of her career to upset Atlanta 1996 gold medallist and sixth seed Maaike Smit 64 76(5), Forsawh joining Switzerland’s Sandra Kalt as the only two unseeded players in the quarterfinals.

Forshaw came from 5-2 down in the opening set of her quarterfinal against former world No. 1 Daniela di Toro to threaten another upset, but di Toro progressed.76 60 as four of the five top seeds reached the women’s semifinals.

Thereafter the Dutch redressed the balance, with defending gold medallist Esther Vergeer defeating Frenchwoman Florence Gravellier 63 61 and Sonja Peters ending di Toro’s quest for gold in what she had said would be her final Paralympics.

Peters set up an all-Dutch final after edging out di Toro 75 46 63, but the Australian recovered to clinch an emotional bronze medal – the first medal of the Athens Paralympic Tennis Event – after a 16 62 62 victory over Gravellier.

History was made again in the final as world No. 1 Vergeer became the first player to retain a Paralympic wheelchair tennis title. Having lost just one match in four years going into the Games, 23-year-old Vergeer swept aside compatriot Sonja Peters 62 60.

“I am very proud to win a second Gold Medal. This medal shows that it was not a one day fly back in Sydney. I have been a good player for four years and have been able to do it again here. We still have the doubles left, too,” said Vergeer.

The unseeded Thai duo went on to complete a shock 62 63 victory and then pulled off a 75 60 win over Switzerland’s Sandra Kalt and Karin Suter-Erath in the semifinals, guaranteeing Thailand’s first ever Paralympic tennis medal.

Kalt and Suter-Erath also secured a first ever wheelchair tennis medal at a Paralympic Games for Switzerland, after defeating Japan's Chiyoko Ohmae and Mie Yaosa 75 63 in the bronze medal match..

Meanwhile, the gold medal match began with another dominant Dutch performance as Smit and Vergeer took the opening set without dropping a game. In the second set, Khanthasit and Techamaneewat fought back from 3-0 down to level the scores at 3-3, but Vergeer eventually served out the match, finishing the last point with a crosscourt forehand winner to complete a 60 64 victory.

“We have never played them before together, but we watched them play Sonja (Peters) and Jiske (Griffioen) in the quarters and we didn’t think that was a good match,” said the victors afterwards. “It looked really frustrating to play their type of lob game.”

When asked how their Athens victory compared to their gold medal in Sydney together the Dutch pair, who went into the final on a 44 match winning streak and an incredible 86-3 win-loss record, said, “Now we are more of a team than we were in Sydney. We have played so much together and we know each other’s games so well. So we have more of a strategy.”

Norfolk wins first quad title

Meanwhile, with the sport’s quad division including both male and female players, the two women in the draw, Monique de Beer of the Netherlands and Sarah Hunter of Canada, both eased through their opening matches in straight sets.

But it was Norfolk’s fellow Brit Mark Eccleston who stole the show and provided the excitement on the opening night of the quad singles, coming back from a set down to defeat Italy’s Guiseppe Polidori 36 63 62.

However, Eccleston’s challenge was to come unstuck in an even more exciting second round encounter against Dutchman Bas van Erp. Serving at 4-5 down in the third set, third seed van Erp, with two match points against him, looked down and out. But four deep first serves in a row secured the game and turned things back in the Dutchman’s favour.

Van Erp took a 6-5 lead with three match points and it was Eccleston’s turn to claw his way back. He successfully saved two match points, but the third proved too much to ask and van Erp progressed to the semis 61 36 75.

The semifinals saw second seed David Wagner edge out his fellow American Nick Taylor 76(4) 75. Meanwhile, ten deuce points in the opening game set the pattern for the other semifinal between Norfolk and van Erp, which was closer than the final score suggested, but it was Norfolk that booked his place in the final against Wagner 62 63.

There was another tense contest for in the bronze medal match, van Erp eventually winning the first Paralympic quad singles medal to be awarded after he overcame Taylor 64 76(8).

In the gold medal match, Norfolk broke early in the first set and with consistent serving, solid returning and good tactical play went on to take it in just 33 minutes. Wagner won two games in a row to take a slender 2-1 second set lead, but despite some closely fought exchanges Norfolk took the next five games to claim a 63 62 victory and earn the distinction of becoming the first Paralympic quad singles champion.

The quad doubles was again largely dominated by American, British and Dutch players. There were male and female players on either side of the net in the bronze medal match as de Beer and Van Erp defeated Canada’s Sarah Hunter and Brian McPhate 63 61 to give van Erp his second bronze medal of the Games.

The gold medal match also guaranteed second medals for Norfolk and Wagner, but five minutes into the start of the first set rain fell and the players were forced off court without a game on the board.

When play resumed it was the American duo who proved the stronger, snatching the first set before breaking in the third and fifth games of the second set with some brilliant play from Taylor. But in the end it was two errors from the British pair that sealed a 64 61 victory for the Americans.

If there were any doubts about how much the Beijing Paralympics would be embraced by the host nation, a 10,000 capacity Centre Court crowd on the first day of competition at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre certainly allayed any fears.

The spectators were certainly not disappointed, with a series of upsets and incredible drama all around the venue throughout the eight days of action, culminating in crowds of around 9,000 cheering enthusiastically for the finals.

Kunieda storms to Paralympic gold

Shingo Kunieda became Japan’s first Paralympic singles champion with a dominant display in Beijing. The world No. 1 dropped only 12 games in his six matches, clinching the title with a 63 60 triumph over No. 2 seed Robin Ammerlaan of the Netherlands.

However, Kunieda and Satoshi Saida were unable to repeat their Athens men’s doubles success, with the pair having to settle for bronze. The title went to second seeds Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz of France, who overcame Sweden’s Stefan Olsson and Peter Wikstrom 61 76(5).

The men’s singles got off to an intriguing start with Australian No. 12 seed Ben Weekes going out in the first round to Yoshinobu Fujimoto of Japan. Meanwhile, Thailand’s Suthi Kholongrua made light of a ranking deficit of more than 80 places to beat Fabian Mazzei of Italy, and Sri Lanka’s Upalia Rajakaruna became the only one of the players to reach the second round after being awarded wildcards via the 2007 Silver Fund Cup.

Former two-time singles medallist Stephen Welch of the USA joined Fujimoto as the only two non-seeds to reach the last 16, while Fujimoto’s compatriot and ninth seed Saida defeated world No. 5 Tadeusz Kruszelnicki of Poland to reach his third successive Paralympic Games quarterfinal.

Kunieda was the hot favourite for the men’s singles title having arrived in Beijing on an unbeaten run since the start of the year. After needing only 55 minutes to see off Athens gold medallist Ammerlaan in the final and wrap up his 40th successive singles win of the season, he said: “I just thought, ‘Yes, I did it. I cannot usually drink alcohol, but tonight I will.’”

Ammerlaan had led a trio of Dutch men into the semifinals, with Maikel Scheffers and Ronald Vink both upsetting the seedings to reach the last four. Scheffers overcame third seed Jeremiasz in the quarterfinals, the same stage at which 11th seed Vink defeated fourth seed Houdet to become the lowest seeded player to reach the semifinals of any Paralympic Tennis Event to date.

Vink then came from 1-4 down in the third set of his semifinal against Ammerlaan to get within two points of defeating the reigning champion, before going down in a final set tiebreak. He went on to lose the bronze medal play off to Scheffers 63 61.

Austrian duo Martin Legner and Thomas Mossier upset French sixth seeds Lahcen Majdi and Nicolas Peifer 63 64 in the second round of the men’s doubles, ending Majdi’s bid for a second doubles medal in successive Paralympics.

With all four seeded partnerships reaching the semifinals, Kunieda and Saida’s title defence ended in a three set loss to Olsson and Wikstrom. However, the Swedish fourth seeds found Houdet and Jeremiasz too strong in a gold medal match decided over two days as France gained it’s first ever Paralympic tennis gold medal.

Vink was also on the losing side in the doubles bronze medal play-off, where he partnered Scheffers to a 36 60 62 defeat by Kunieda and Saida 36 60 62.

Historic third triumph for Vergeer

“I was 5-3 down? How did I win?”

That was Esther Vergeer’s reaction to a question in her post-match press conference after the women’s singles final echoed the thoughts of many who witnessed one of the most remarkable matches in Paralympic tennis history. However, long before the world No. 1 captured her third successive Paralympic gold medal, the women’s singles had already produced great drama.

The 10,000 crowd of largely Chinese spectators on Centre Court on the opening day had much to cheer as China’s No. 1 Fuli Dong was responsible for the exit of the first of the seeded players as she beat seventh seeded Mie Yaosa of Japan in straight sets.

In the second round American Beth Arnoult and Dong’s compatriot Dan Dan Hu beat sixth seed Annick Sevenans of Belgium and seventh seed Ilanit Fridman of Israel respectively and the host nation had two representatives in the quarterfinals for the first time, much to the delight of the home supporters.

It took none other than Vergeer to end Dong’s Paralympics, but the world No. 1 came within one point of losing her five-year unbeaten record in the final. The 27-year-old Dutch woman eventually overcame her second seeded compatriot Korie Homan 62 46 76(5).

Vergeer and Homan both eased into the singles final, dropping only 18 games between them. Homan then recovered from a set and 4-2 down to lead 5-3 in the final set, only to miss a match point on Vergeer’s serve at 5-4.

Vergeer, a winner in Sydney and Athens, said: “I was this close to losing this match today, the most important match of my year, the whole four years I’ve been working for it. I’m just the happiest person in the world right now.”

Homan added: “I am very happy to win the silver medal, but at the same time a little bit sad because I was one point away from the gold. It was an amazing match, an amazing final.”

Florence Gravellier prevented an all-Dutch semifinal line-up with a quarterfinal victory over third seed Sharon Walraven. The French woman went on to win the bronze medal with a 63 64 defeat of Griffioen.

Having arrived in Beijing yet to win a Paralympic medal, Gravellier also won bronze in the doubles, partnering Arlette Racineux to a 57 63 62 victory over Americans Beth Arnoult and Kaitlyn Verfuerth. Racineux collected her second Paralympic women’s doubles bronze medal, 12 years after winning her first in Atlanta.

There was revenge for 22-year-old Homan in an all-Dutch women’s doubles final when she partnered Sharon Walraven to a shock 26 76(4) 64 over Jiske Griffioen and Vergeer, only the second defeat for the top seeds in 40 events together.

Norfolkrepeats Athens victory

Peter Norfolk successfully defended his Paralympic quad title with an impressive overall display in Beijing. The 47-year-old No. 2 seed dropped only 10 games in his four matches, defeating surprise finalist Johan Andersson of Sweden 62 62 to win gold.

Americans Nick Taylor and David Wagner also defended their quad doubles title, the top seeds overcoming unseeded Israelis Boaz Kramer and Shraga Weinberg 60 46 62 in the final.

Norfolk and Wagner had been rivals for the world No. 1 ranking throughout the year, but the top seeded American failed to find his best form in Beijing, losing in the semifinals to fourth seed Andersson 64 26 63, having been visibly disturbed by several line-calls during the match. At the same stage, the Briton overcame third seed Taylor 60 63.

Despite giving away 24 years in the final, Norfolk needed only 61 minutes to retain his title against the 23-year-old, having won the inaugural quad event four years ago.

“The atmosphere out there was the best I’ve ever played in,” he said afterwards. “Johan played well but I think nerves got the better of him which isn’t surprising with a crowd of 10,000 watching. To defend my gold medal I’m ecstatic.”

There was consolation for Wagner when he defeated his compatriot Taylor 62 46 61 in the bronze medal play-off.

Sweden had never won a Paralympic tennis medal prior to Beijing, but Andersson’s victory over Wagner ensured the first of two silver medals for the Scandinavian country.

Meanwhile, Israel was also without a Paralympic medal before Kramer and Weinberg shocked second seeds Norfolk and Jamie Burdekin in straight sets in the quad double semifinals.

Kramer and Weinberg surprised everyone again in the final as they recovered from not winning a game against Wagner and Taylor in the first set to take the Americans to three sets.

While Wagner added a second doubles gold to his singles bronze medal, Norfolk also won a second doubles medal in successive Games when he teamed up with Burdekin to defeat Dutch duo Dorrie Timmermans van Hall and Bas van Erp 67(4) 75 61 to win bronze.

The Beijing Paralympics ended with the overall Paralympic tennis medal having expanded to feature a total of 11 nations. The ever-increasing standards suggest that there is no reason why the spread of medals will not increase even further by the time the London Paralympics come around in 2012.

At the start of eight days of competition at Eton Manor, the only purpose-built London 2012 Paralympic venue, 112 players from 31 countries set out in the pursuit of success in six medal events.

Thesixth Paralympic Tennis Event saw Shingo Kunieda of Japan and Noam Gershony of Israel both create historyin the men’s singles and quad singles, while Esther Vergeercemented her status as the most successful Paralympic Tennis Event player ever when she won her fourth successive women’s singles title.

During the competition wheelchair tennis attracted capacity crowds on the show courts and some important visitors, including Her Royal Highness the duch*ess of Gloucester, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Sebastian Coe and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The first seeded players to exit were in the men’s singles as Adam Kellerman of Australia beat No. 13 seed Satoshi Saida of Japan, while Great Britain’s David Phillipson David Phillipson avenged his Beijing 2008 second round loss to No. 15 seed Martin Legner of Austria.

Ninth seed Gordon Reid of Great Britain upset Swedish sixth seed Stefan Olsson and No. 11 seed Joachim Gerard of Belgium defeated eighth seed Nicolas Peifer of France to reach the quarterfinals, and while all four top seeds progressed to the semifinals, world No. 2 Kunieda went on to become the first player to win back-to-back men’s singles gold medals after he beat world No. 1 Stephane Houdet of France 64 62 in the gold medal match.

The bronze medal went to fourth seed Ronald Vink after he avenged his loss to fellow Dutchman Maikel Scheffers in the bronze medal match in Beijing in 2008 to win 46 76(5) 64.

Sakhorn Khanthasit of Thailand and Yui Kamiji of Japan beat No. 6 seed Daniela di Toro of Australia and No. 7 seed Annick Sevenans of Belgium respectively to become the only non-seeds in the women’s singles quarterfinals and Khanthasit went on to become the first player to take a game off Vergeer at Eton Manor.

But after the four top seeds reached the semifinals Vergeer went on to surpass Australian David Hall’s record of six Paralympic Tennis Event medals when she beat world No. 2 Aniek van Koot 60 63 in the gold medal match to stretch her winning streak of unbeaten matches to 470 and her winning sequence of tournaments to 120 since her last loss to di Toro at the end of January 2003.

Jiske Griffioen completed an all-Dutch women’s singles podium for the third time in six Paralympic Tennis Events when she defeated German fourth seed Sabine Ellerbrock 62 76(6) in the bronze medal match.

The first two rounds of matches in the quad singles saw Britain’s leading hopes bow out as Sweden’s Anders Hard defeated No 4 seed Andy Lapthorne in the first round, while Shraga Weinberg of Israel ended Peter Norfolk’s hopes of a third successive Paralympic gold medal with a stunning 36 75 60 victory in the quarterfinals.

But the world’s top two players progressed to the final, despite No. 2 seed Gershony having to come from a set down in his quarterfinal against Great Britain’s Jamie Burdekin, and the Israeli went on to defeat world No. 1 David Wagner of USA 63 61 to clinch Israel’s first Paralympic gold medal in wheelchair tennis.

After finishing fourth in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, Nick Taylor of USA finally got the quad singles medal he desperately wanted when he beat Weinberg 16 63 64 in the bronze medal match.

There were upsets in both men’s double semifinals as sixth seeds Stefan Olsson and Peter Vikstrom of Sweden avenged their loss to French top seeds and defending champions Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz of France in the Beijing 2008 gold medal match, winning 61 76(6). Meanwhile fourth seeds Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Peifer of France earned their first Paralympic medals after defeating Dutch second seeds Robin Ammerlaan and Vink 63 62.

Olsson and Vikstrom subsequently went one better than they did in Beijing when they beat Cattaneo and Peifer 61 62 to win Sweden’s first Paralympic Tennis Event gold medal. Houdet and Jeremiasz followed up their Beijing gold medal with bronze at London 2012 after defeating Ammerlaan and Vink 60 60.

The women’s doubles medals went according to the seeding as Marjolein Buis and Vergeer beat second seeds Griffioen and Aniek van Koot 61 63 in another all-Dutch gold medal match. Third seeds Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley of Great Britain overcame a tough challenge for the bronze medal as they recovered from a set down to beat Thailand’s Athens 2004 silver medallists Sakhorn Khanthasit and Ratana Techamaneewat 67(8) 76(2) 63 and gain Britain’s first women’s doubles medal.

Taylor and Wagner won a remarkable third successive quad doubles gold medal when they got the better of top seeds and long-time rivals Lapthorne and Norfolk 63 57 62. The bronze medal went to Gershony and Weinberg, who eased to a 63 61 win over Japan’s Shota Kawano and Mitsuteru Moroishi.

In a changing landscape, a similar story. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics welcomed 104 wheelchair tennis athletes from 31 nations, a testament to the continuing growth of the sport worldwide – but in the end, as it has been at every Paralympic Games since the addition of wheelchair tennis in 1992, it was the Netherlands who topped the medal table, filling seven of the 18 podium positions at Ariake Tennis Park.

Three golds, two silver, two bronze – and perhaps most impressive of all, at least one player or team on all six podiums, the first wheelchair tennis nation to achieve the feat since the introduction of the quad division in 2004.

There was success across the generations as well as divisions. There was quad singles bronze and doubles gold for 18-year-old Niels Vink, already making partner Sam Schroder a veteran at 21 as he claimed silver in singles alongside his doubles triumph. And at the other end of the age range was 38-year-old Maikel Scheffers, the eldest member of the Dutch team, who claimed men’s doubles bronze alongside singles silver medallist Tom Egberink.

The Netherlands may be dominant, but they are not out of sight. Both Great Britain and hosts Japan claimed four medals in Tokyo, winning at least one in all three divisions, much to the delight of three-time men’s singles champion Shingo Kunieda, who alongside Kamiji has long been the nation’s figurehead of wheelchair tennis.